I completely agree! My little 11 month old son adores Thomas! Whenever it comes on he gets all excited and dances and laughs! We like to watch it together in the morning before his breakfast and he always has the cutest little smile on his face. Thomas is one of the few shows that he'll stop playing and sit and watch with me, and he has enjoyed it since he was very little.
I don't know if he would prefer the longer episodes more, as his favourite part is the "Engine Roll Call" song at the end, but he does also love the part where they wash Thomas down at the end of the day and he goes to bed with his little night cap on.
Either way, more Thomas (through either longer episodes or more frequent shows) would be perfectly fine as far as my little guy is concerned!